​Okay it is 5.24am here and I have been awake since 3am(ish). I woke up feeling a bit uneasy so I turned on one of my favourite songs “Return to Innocence” by Enigma. I remember it was my friend Okey who introduced me to the song back then in Nigeria when I used to sell customised CDs and Laptops to “office people”. I must have been in my Undergrad Year 4 then (This “hustle” life has been me since time immemorial). Anyway, so I turned on the music and even though I have listened to this song countless of times, I was still struck by this part, “Don’t be afraid to be weak, don’t be too proud to be strong , just look into your heart my friend, that would be the return to yourself, a return to Innocence” and I sat back for a second or two and pondered.
A return to Innocence is a return to yourself, a return to who you have always wanted to be, a return to what you have always wanted to do with your life. I don’t have enough words to explain the lack of peace I felt throughout those years when I listened to noise from various sources including society about who I’m supposed to be or what I’m supposed to do, but my friends, if you are in anything or endeavour (I don’t care what it is) that does not give you peace you need to start the process of returning to yourself because life is too short to be living someone else’s life.
I actually told myself I wasn’t going to do a long post today but maybe someone out there needs this extra push to finally take that leap of faith to return to themselves.
I wish you a fulfilling weekend. Be good people 😘😘😘
Love,

Chika.
Ps: my new Book, Boss Bible is out if you are needing a bit more motivation, the link is in my bio or just type “Boss Bible” into Amazon. There is more where this came from. 😊😊😊😊

It always begins with a spark: a thought, a feeling, something which seems to have the power to move our very core and pushes us to stop and think, to conceive, to plan…do things, achieve more.

In a world that glorifies the busy, we rarely find the time to stop and ponder. We are so busy being distracted by the internet (which is not a bad thing in itself, I must add) that we seem have lost that which is essential to the core of any human – inspiration.

The result is a lot of people living lives filled busy work but not quite achieving much in the true sense of the word.

It is with this in mind that I have written my latest book titled:

Boss Bible: Daily Wisdom to Inspire the Successful Lifestyle in Every Achiever and Entrepreneur

Boss Bible is a collection of 413 inspiring quotes from the likes of billionaires, business moguls, successful entrepreneurs, renowned thought leaders, well-known and respected TV personalities, world-famous poets and innovators. You’ll also find thought-provoking, meaningful, actionable words from the venerable queen of messaging and authenticity, Oprah.

It is just the tool you need to inspire you to reach for success, to give you hope, wisdom, and power when it may seem there might not be any. It will empower you and help you to create a better mindset to become the ultimate achiever and an all-round happier person. These quotes are not going to magically transform you into an overnight billionaire, but they will help you to build habits that will change your life and, hopefully, guide you on your journey to success, no matter what discipline you choose.

The quotes are short and concise (just perfect for the busy and not so busy person) and based on the feedback I have received, you would find it hard to stop until you have reached the end.

Boss Bible launches on 30 June, 2016 (a little over a week from now) but you can preorder your kindle copy which would be delivered directly to your device, by using the following links:

While carrying on with the research I wrote about in my last post, I watched more interviews and read more articles about successful people and I found one common denominator between all of them – they had been working on their crafts for years, even decades before most people began to hear of them.

Sure, few people may have heard of them during their silent years, when they were still trying to make it, but most of them were only truly known after they had put in many years of hard work. In some cases, some of these people we hear of now, had to beg people to collaborate with them, sometimes even giving their products out for free.

Just some days ago, I came across a Facebook post from Esther Ijewere-Kalejaiye, renowned rape activist and Founder and Executive Director at Rubies Ink Initiative. In that post, she recounted how back in 2010, she had to go from one news outfit to the other to “beg” for interviews and features just to make her vision believable. Now her initiative and charity is regarded in Nigeria as the go-to place for rape survivors to receive support and care.

True to the way the Principle of Recognition works, I also recently stumbled on a CNN Money article from 2006 on Twitter. The title of the article was, “10 People who don’t matter”. The aim of the list was to highlight people who the readers could safely snub at conferences. Amongst the 10 executives on the list were CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings and Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook.

What struck me most while reading through the article, was not that the fact that the two names are now very relevant, but that this article was written about 10 years ago and even before then, these two people have been working and fine-tuning products Netflix and Facebook, both of which are now very relevant.

I personally, did not know about Netflix until a little more than two years ago, when I discovered that it was possible to stream movies and TV shows through the platform. For Facebook, you have to live under a very secluded rock not to have heard of the social-networking site which as at 2015, had 1.55 billion active users worldwide.

But look how long ago, these people had been on their grind.

If you cast our minds to any successful person you know, be her/him an actor, musician or entrepreneur and listen or read their stories, you will find that my observation applies. Sometimes their success may appear as instant, but if you dig deeper, you will discover that they, like others had been on the grind for much longer than it appears to a casual observer.

Finding this out was very eye-opening to me particularly, as we seem to live in a time when a lot of people want and crave instant gratification, often packing up their bags and tools when they don’t see the success they seek within a short period of time.

You may be reading this post, while in the process of starting something that perhaps, is taking longer than expected or is really difficult to execute. Just stay on your grind, resting safe in the knowledge that with time, the success you seek will materialise. Also stay open to receiving inspiration and adapting your ideas when better ways of executing them emerge.